Chasing Angels
by The Room of Disquieting Muses
Summary: Teddy Lupin had no intention of dying in a blaze of glory. [Round Robin Collaboration, eventual TeddyVictoire.]
1. of blame and talking hats

**..chasing.angels..  
**  
CHAPTER ONE  
**of blame and talking hats**  
_by cupid-painted-blind_

Teddy Lupin was born in April, exactly one month, seventeen days, fourteen hours, and thirty-three minutes before his mother died, and one month, seventeen days, fourteen hours, and forty-six minutes before his father died. His grandmother told him that neither of them knew the other was dead, and that his father never even knew she was there.

All of his life, Teddy thought that was unbearably tragic for his mother, dying alone in a place that had always meant happiness. And for most of his life, he blamed his father for not saving her, even though he knew that Remus Lupin wasn't to blame at all.

It made it easier, in a way, to think that it was somehow someone's fault.

As a child, he thought this made him a bad person, blaming his mother's death on his oblivious father and his father's death on anyone he could. Uncle Harry used to tell him that blame was just part of grief and that he was the best godson a man could hope for, but Teddy never quite believed Uncle Harry, even though Uncle Harry never knew his parents either. Harry never hated anyone else for what happened to his parents, except maybe the people who really were to blame.

And that's always okay, because if you kill someone, you should be blamed for their deaths. But not if you just didn't run to their rescue.

The day his Hogwarts letter came in the post, he was sitting outside underneath a tree, watching birds and thinking about flight. Not like on brooms, but_ real _flight. Arms-open-wide-and-falling flight. When he was very young, he saw a Muggle man jump out of one of their machines (Aunt Hermione called them "airplanes" but the word meant nothing to him, and for a long time, he wondered why his broomstick didn't have giant wings and men with big mushrooms on their backs leaping out of it. Aunt Ginny thought this was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. It wasn't until he was a little older that he figured out why.)

Grandmama called him into the house, wearing a big smile - Teddy always liked it when his Grandmama smiled, which wasn't so often nowadays. He always thought it made her look so pretty - and handed him the letter. "Looks like you're going to school after all, Teddy! Congratulations!"

(She was referring to, of course, the fact that Uncle George had convinced him several months ago that any Metamorphmagi were automatically squibs and couldn't go to Hogwarts. He didn't really think that through, or he would have seen the crucial flaw - his mother went to Hogwarts - and so spent three months in sobbing terror, _willing_ magic to pour out of his fingers.)

(Teddy had a lot of Aunts and Uncles, none of whom were actually related to him. Actually, that was a lie - he did have one real great-aunt, but Grandmama never talked about her very much, and Teddy never asked.)

Part of him really wanted to jump for joy, part of him really wanted to hit his Uncle George, and part of him didn't want to leave Grandmama and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. But he grinned as big as he could and ran for the fireplace, shouting to his grandmother that he'd be back really soon, he just had to do something really fast. He threw a whole handful of Floo Powder into the grate at the same moment he jumped in and shouted out Uncle Harry's address.

James was_ really _mad at Teddy twenty minutes later, when Aunt Ginny finally told him to stop shoving that letter in her son's face.

He couldn't help it. Well, really, he could, but the younger boy was always better than him, so taunting James seemed like a good idea at the time. And it was worth it, sort of, only then James was so mad at him he wouldn't talk to him for days, and while being better than your best friend is great, _having_a best friend is better. But Teddy was nothing if not stubborn, and so refused to apologize.

And since Albus was only a few years old and Lily did whatever James told her to do, Teddy suddenly found himself alone, three weeks before going off to his first year at Hogwarts, and all of a sudden, he realized that he'd be alone for a while. After all, he was the oldest of his friends - he'd be going to school without anyone he knew.

Scared, Teddy had gone to the only person who might be able to help him - Bill.

Bill - who was not an Uncle, because Teddy didn't see him enough, but was too interesting for _Mister_, and so was just Bill - understood him more than he probably should. While Uncle Harry was telling him that blame was normal, Bill was telling him that he was above blame. Uncle Harry was nice to him; Bill challenged him. _You really think your father deserves your hatred?, _Bill told him once. _The man died for you, Teddy. He was one of the best people I ever knew. You owe him more than that._

(Plus - and he would rather eat his own hand than admit it - seeing Bill meant seeing Victoire, who was two years younger than he and seriously, honestly believed that he placed the stars in the sky.)

(Not in small part because he told her he did. But Victoire had the strange ability to make people around her lie. It was like she wore a big sign that said "Lie to me, because I'll believe it." He felt bad for telling her stories, but he'd decided several years before that if she was willing to swallow them, he'd tell her whatever she lies would listen to. Bill's Wife - who had a pretty French name that Teddy loathed, and so never used - scolded him every time she caught him lying. Bill never caught him lying. Teddy never_ let _him.)

Bill laughed when Teddy said that he'd made James mad at him, and told him that James would get over it. "Besides," he said, taking a huge bite of scone, "James is probably just as lonely as you are."

But by the time Teddy went to King's Cross with Grandmama, James still hadn't forgiven him, and Teddy had no intention of apologizing. So he got on the train and promptly met no one he even slightly enjoyed the company of, and spent the entire six-hour train ride in a compartment with five very rowdy boys who were under the firm belief that Teddy dyed his hair ("Like a Muggle girl! You're a little Muggle girl, aren't you?")

Later, Teddy found out that those boys were older, and a bunch of trouble-making Gryffindors. The moment he set foot on the platform at Hogsmeade, he decided that he would not be a Gryffindor. Gryffindors were like his father, and like Uncle Harry's parents, and Gryffindors died young, in pretty blazes of glory.

Teddy didn't want to die in a blaze of glory. Teddy didn't want to die at all.

So he decided he would be anything but Gryffindor (and Slytherin, but only because Grandmama was a Slytherin, and never ceased telling him how much she hated it, and he knew that Grandmama would be awfully disappointed if he became a Slytherin.) But he wasn't really smart enough to be in Ravenclaw and had never considered himself hard-working - in fact, he was quite possibly the laziest person in the entire universe - so that nixed Hufflepuff.

What would they do, he wondered, if he didn't fit in anywhere? He could change his appearance, he supposed, and claim to be someone else. Waltz back into wherever they'd be sorting them, and say he was Dumbledore's long-lost son (grandson. Great-grandson. Whichever.) They'd have to let him try again and then he could make up something else so he'd be sorted somewhere. Even Gryffindor. Anything was better than not being sorted at all.

It sounded pretty good, really, he thought, to erase Theodore Remus Lupin and magically become someone else. He always wondered if his mother ever thought about doing that. And for several happy moments, he indulged in his old fantasy - that his mother had simply changed her appearance and her name and walked out of the Battle of Hogwarts eleven years ago, and would show up any moment now, proclaiming adoration for her son and regret for leaving him.

Once, he told his Grandmama about his theory. She had smiled very sadly and said that it would be wonderful if it were true.

Teddy never told Grandmama any more of his theories after that.

At any rate, when he walked into the hall, he was bitterly disappointed to find a hat on a stool (Uncle Ron had _sworn_ that he'd have to fight a troll with nothing but his wand and anything he could lay his hands on and attack with) and was even more disappointed to find that it simply yelled out houses. It seemed so_random_, and that meant that he wasn't going to go where he wanted. He was just going to get thrown into some house that a freaky talking hat seemed to think was good for him.

And then Teddy thought about that, and figured that freaky talking hats should not be left up to deciding where real people would spend the next seven years of their lives. Hats, after all, weren't even supposed to talk, let alone think. When they put it on his head, he was incredibly annoyed to find that it was so big - or he was so small - that it fell all the way over his eyes and tickled his nose. For a few moments, he wished he was back at home with James and Lily and little Albus.

Freaky Talking Hat then laughed at him and said that he was a clever boy. Teddy jumped - visibly, he thought, which was mortifying - and wondered where it kept its mouth.

_You're a difficult one. Brave and clever. Good Gryffindor traits._

But Teddy had no intention of being a Gryffindor.

_Most people would love to be in Gryffindor. Harry Potter was one. But you know, he would have been good in Slytherin as well. What do you think?_

Teddy thought that Uncle Harry never would have fit in Slytherin, and he knew very well that that was not what the hat was really asking him. He just didn't care. He was annoyed and hungry and sleepy, and felt like he'd been sitting under the hat for fifty years or more and just_knew_ that everyone was staring at him, wondering what this stupid First Year was doing under the Freaky Talking Hat. Then he wondered if it had a real name.

_No one's ever given me a real name,_ it said in his ear, reminding him that it was there_, and you've only been here a few seconds. Don't fret._

I'm not fretting, he thought. I'm curious.

_Curiosity, eh? Very Ravenclaw of you. But I don't think you'd fit in there. You don't want to be a Gryffindor, and I don't think Slytherin would be good for you. So that leaves Hufflepuff. How does Hufflepuff sound?_

Hufflepuff sounds like the House for Rejects, Teddy thought. I can come back as someone else.

_Your mother was a Hufflepuff, and a good one._

His mother was a Hufflepuff?

HUFFLEPUFF, the hat cried, and Teddy was suddenly blinded by bright light and candle smoke as someone took the hat off his head. What had just happened? He stumbled down from the stool and stared around in abject horror. What was he supposed to do now? Did he sit down? Where?

And then a very pretty blonde girl stood up and waved him over to a table underneath a big yellow banner that he hadn't seen until right that very instant. Feeling stupid and blushing to the roots of his hair (bright blue today, his absolute favorite color, because Grandmama told him it wouldn't be very good if he stood out too much on the first day), he shuffled to an empty seat next to a fat, sniffling boy and a huge redhead who only glanced at him.

Teddy Lupin was at Hogwarts, and hated it.

-:-:-:-:-

**Author's Note: As a bit of introduction - this a seven-way Round Robin from the Character Sketches Forum. Check out the profile for more information and probably update whatever. Ha-ha, updates aren't my problem, at least not for the next six chapters! Being first _rocks_.**

**Cupid out.**


	2. of blue hair and families

**..chasing.angels..**

CHAPTER TWO  
**of blue hair and families  
**_by Cuban Sombrero Gal_

Teddy stood in the middle of the corridor, his shoulders rotating slightly as so not to get bumped by the hordes of people stampeding along on their way to class. He had no idea where he was, only that he was in the middle of a corridor on the fourth floor, and that he was nowhere near his charms class. The thought of asking someone for help was unbearable, that was the sort of thing his cousins would do, and as much as Teddy loved his cousins, he didn't want to be like them. He wanted to be brave like Bill, because Bill was a hero of the war, like Uncle Harry and Uncle Ron and all the rest (even though he hated how gruesome his uncle's scars were, and thought that being a hero was pretty stupid if you got hurt or died like his parents)

"Teddy."

Teddy looked up at the sound of his name, puzzled. He didn't know anyone here, except the nice blonde girl who'd waved him to the table and led him to the dormitories last night.

"Teddy, over here."

It was that boy he'd sat next to last night, the boy who'd reminded him scarily of Uncle Ron, not just because of the red hair, but because of the way he'd eaten eight potatoes (Aunt Hermione always told stories about how Uncle Ron had been so engrossed in food when he was younger he never listened to her telling him about her latest ideas, and really, Teddy didn't blame him, especially when she started on SPEW, which his uncle said she'd been talking about for about fifteen years, always with the same enthusiasm).

"I ran into Rebecca this morning, and she said you were lost and confused looking."

Who Rebecca was, Teddy had no idea, but he was glad to have a friendly face amidst the sea of confusion.

"Why's your hair blue?" the boy asked, and Teddy shrugged. He'd always been proud that his mother was a Metamorphagus, but Grandmama had once let slip that her family hated her and her daughter, so maybe unusual talents (Grandmama was a brilliant cook, especially of Muggle food, which she'd learnt from Teddy's dead Grandpapa, who was a Muggleborn. Grandmama was a Slytherin and Grandpapa had been a Hufflepuff, and Grandmama had once let slip that her family hated their marriage, but she had forbid Teddy to mention it. Grandmama had a lot of secrets), made people hate you, and Teddy didn't want anyone to hate him.(If he thought about, he'd realise that wasn't true, because Uncle Harry and everyone seemed to like him, but the irrational side of Teddy's brain was happy)

"I just like blue, I guess. There's no real reason."

"Really, I hate blue. My mum says it's because I like bright colours and because I'm a vivid child."

The boy (Teddy still hadn't worked up the courage to ask his name), continued to talk, leaving Teddy to his own thoughts.

Why was it that everybody loved Hogwarts, and he hated it?

"We're here," the boy said, with a grin on his face, pushing on the door and letting it bang into the wall with a thunderous crash. Sixty eyes, all as bright as his current hair colour, gazed up at him imploringly.

"Why are you late boys?" The voice was squeaky, and Teddy rapidly scanned the room, looking for the source of the fuss, which was nowhere to be seen. Eventually, he spotted a man, perched upon a stack of books behind the teachers' desk.

"Er ..." the boy standing next to Teddy stuttered, "we got lost."

The teacher nodded, his small frame bouncing eagerly about on the book stack so much that Teddy was worried he would have a heart attack and fall, he looked rather fragile.

"I'm Professor Flitwick." the teacher said, and he reminded Teddy of Uncle Harry's friend Neville, who was the Herbology professor, because he was strict and formidable, but fair (Even though Teddy still held a grudge against him for that weird plant he had bought to Uncle Harry's twenty-fifth birthday party that had spurted all over him and Victoire while they'd been trying to hide from Aunt Fleur who'd wanted them to have baths and go to bed). "Find your seats and tell me who you are."

He wobbled on his book ladder again, nearly flying into a pot of ink that lay open on the cluttered desk. Teddy resisted the urge to laugh, partly because he would draw attention to himself (he hadn't exactly noticed the large group of girls ogling his turquoise blue hair and giggling appreciatively), and partially because he was straining to hear the boy's name.

"I'm Septimus. Septimus Krum."

Teddy gasped, and a small flicker of unidentified emotion crossed his face: was it shock? Teddy had heard Krum's name mentioned many a time, Uncle Ron was particularly quick to slander him (Aunt Hermione was always disapproving and chastised Uncle Ron on his language, but then Uncle Ron would always mouth the words "Yule Ball" and she would turn bright red and stop. Teddy always wondered what had happened that night, but all anyone would tell him was that his Uncle had been a late bloomer when it came to noticing girls).

The rest of the class, Teddy noticed that it was mostly girls, something which scared him a little, had also heard the name; the air was heavy with silence, something which unnerved Teddy a little, as Professor Flitwick was now leaning over his desk, the books still wobbling precariously, and waiting for Teddy to speak.

"I'm Teddy," he mumbled, his face turning a rather bright red (it reminded Teddy of a tomato, and he was allergic to tomatoes, as he found out after a two year old James had spat one at him to avoid being fed by Aunt Ginny, so he took his blushing face as a rather bad sign). "Teddy Lupin."

"How delightful," Professor Flitwick squealed, waving his arms about excitedly. "I knew your parents. Your father was a great charms student; he and Lily Evans were the best in their year. So tragic …"

Teddy nodded, slightly confused as to why the professor was so excited to reminisce about dead people. Teddy didn't even like visiting their graves very much, even though Grandmama made him take flowers to their graves every month and pay his respects, and they were his parents, for Merlin's sake.

"Your mother, she was little less disciplined. Lucky she had a natural talent for Transfiguration; otherwise she'd have been kicked out, the amount of mischief she caused, as bad as the Weasley Twins and the Marauders."

Flitwick sighed, it seemed that troublemakers at Hogwarts had very little luck in the outside world, and Teddy couldn't help but think of Uncle George, who was just planning his marriage to Katie now, after so many years of sitting in the corner of rooms at family gatherings drinking and staring into mirrors.

"And then, Harry Potter, your godfather." There was a collective gasp at this, even the two girls in the back corner that had been gazing steadily at the blonde haired boy on the other side of the room looked up, giggling slightly and shooting Teddy some admiring glances. "Oh, yes, the defeater of He Who Must Not Be Named Himself."

"Voldemort?" Teddy asked, unable to stop himself.

"Don't say the name," Flitwick snapped, yet he still continued to grin jovially at Teddy, who was slowly becoming confused.

"Yes, your godfather killed You-Know-Who, I was there," he continued, before raising one arm and wobbling on his stack of books again.

"Oh, goodness me, look at the time. To your seats boys."

Teddy and Septimus, who had been standing at the teacher's desk looking bamboozled for the last fifteen minutes, quickly scurried over to the only available seats next to the blonde haired boy.

The rest of the lesson passed in a daze, Teddy was still confused by Flitwick's comment. He knew Uncle Harry had been a hero of the war, and so had Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione and all the rest and that his Uncle Fred had died and that's how Bill had gotten his scars, but … he thought they were perfect. Had Uncle Harry really killed someone? Uncle Harry had also lectured Teddy about fairness, even more so than Grandmama, and Teddy didn't really believe he could have killed someone, even if that someone was evil.

"Teddy," Septimus muttered, as Teddy slid into a seat at the Hufflepuff table between his new friend and a older girl far too preoccupied with staring into space.

"What?"

"Is it true … is Harry Potter really your godfather?"

"Yeah." Teddy nodded absentmindedly, preferring to focus on the tantalising aroma of the chicken that lay in front of him than Septimus' conversation.

"My father met him once you know. Apparently he took Harry Potter's best friend to a ball."

Teddy nodded again; the story of Uncle Ron's jealousy was a Weasley family legend, and even if he was a Lupin (Grandmama wouldn't let him be a Tonks, she said it reminded her too much of her daughter and son in-law, because Teddy was so much like them. She'd cried, when she'd told him that, and Teddy hadn't been sure whether or not to hug her or laugh, because she did look kind of funny. Aunt Hermione had said later that his grandmother was going through that time of life, and he had looked at her blankly. He didn't get it then, and even now, the memory still confused him).

Desperate to turn the conversation away from himself, before he accidentally revealed too much about Uncle Harry, especially those new found revelations that he himself was now left to ponder, Teddy turned to Septimus, (who once again was cramming way more food than humanly possible to eat into his mouth – today it was steak and kidney pie), and asked.

"So, your dad … what's it like being related to a famous Quidditch player?" Viktor Krum had retired years ago, after a long and rewarding career, but he still appeared on many different radio stations, discussing the tactics used by different teams and who was the best bet to win the Quidditch World Cup. Quidditch didn't actually appeal to Teddy (which confused Uncle Harry like crazy, especially after he bought Teddy a broomstick which Teddy automatically put in the cupboard and never pulled out again, except to whack James over the head for biting him).

"It's pretty horrible, actually," Septimus said, with a loud sigh that echoed throughout the vicinity. Taking a deep breath, he shoveled more pie into his mouth, almost spraying Teddy with it as he began to speak again. "Dad's really big on Quidditch, but I hate it. I wanted to come here for the classes; they've got a much better academic record than Durmstrang."

He continued to ramble about how much his father was a control freak and Quidditch nut, leaving Teddy feeling even more confused than ever.

Septimus had a loving mother and father, yet he did not appreciate them, and here was Teddy, who would do anything to meet his parents. Did people only appreciate things when they didn't have them?

Shaking his head slightly at the absurdity of this thought, Teddy turned back to the conversation.

"So why _exactly _do you have blue hair anyway?"

-:-:-:-:-

**Author's Note: So, Frayed Misfit's chapter will be next, and I, along with everyone else at the Character Sketches Forum, can't wait to see what she writes. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	3. of falling snow and missing them

**..chasing.angels..**

CHAPTER THREE  
**of fallen snow and missing them  
**_by Frayed Misfit_

It was with an inescapable desire that Teddy packed his trunk for the Christmas holidays, he stood on the end of his bed, frantically searching for lost socks. Grandma always said he was a forgetful boy, although he only forgot things in halves; eating his meat but not his vegetables, he only ever lost one sock, one mitten.

Septimus emerged through the dormitory door, a large portion of Christmas pudding half way to his mouth.

"Wha choo doin' up der?" He spluttered through white icing and glazed cherries, his eyes moving from the sock in Teddy's hand to Teddy's frustrated look.

"I can't find my stupid sock! Grandma will kill me!"

After licking each of his sticky fingers in turn, Septimus lifted the leg of his trousers, displaying Teddy's missing sock.

At the look on Teddy's face he gave a little shrug, "I couldn't find my other one, so I just borrowed yours, I was going to buy you some for Christmas."

"Umm, yeah ok."

Teddy scrambled down from his position on the bed, rubbing the back of his hair in confusion. Septimus had everything, yet he felt the need to 'borrow' everything he laid his eyes on. It amazed Teddy that he could walk around the castle wearing a collection of other people's things and not feel horribly guilty.

"So are you going to see Harry Potter at Christmas?"

Teddy resisted the urge to roll his eyes, it had become a frequent occurrence for students of all years to stop him in the middle of the corridor and question him about his godfather. Every time he received a letter from home, a large chorus of "Is it from Harry Potter" would ensue, while Teddy shook his head and tried desperately to detract the attention from himself. He didn't understand why he was a celebrity for having a famous godfather and dead parents. Most students were casualties of war, why did everyone feel the need to rub it in his face?

With a resigned sigh he turned away, folding his Hufflepuff scarf into his trunk.

"Well, yeah I suppose so."

"Awesome."

"Uhuh, awesome."

-:-:-:-:-

The snow fell in lazy spirals onto his now brown hair, flecking it with white. A lament of Christmas carols drifted from the back door he had left open, reminding Teddy of the false hope of the holiday season.

Christmas had never felt so cold, so isolated. Teddy was suddenly aware of the frozen world around him, halted in growth, unable to move through the snow that suffocated it. It was hard to come home to this joy, this belief in something big and indescribable that always permeated at Christmas, soon he would have to face his cousins.

(There not really my cousins anyway, everyone just pretends they are so it feels like I have a family)

He missed them most at Christmas Time, when the world was so pretty, when everyone was laughing, everyone was embracing, when the music was playing and the lights were bright on the tree. Through all the lights, he was alone in the darkness.

A pair of arms reached for him through the dark snow, their warmth cutting through his misery.

"Ted come inside, come on."

Grandma pulled him into her embrace, lifting him from the frozen ground, wrapping him in her woolen cloak.

He mumbled into her shoulder, his eyes stuck together by little snowflakes.

"I don't want to go back there again, I hate it."

"Let's have a cup of hot chocolate, then we can talk about it properly, ok darling?"

The house smelt like gingerbread and peppermint, it spread a little bit of hope into his heart. Grandma sat him down by the fire, her hand brushing the fallen snow out of his hair, pressing his face against her, so he didn't have to explain his tears.

"Your mum didn't like Hogwarts at first either, did I ever tell you that?"

"They all laugh at my hair and they keep telling me that I look like a girl."

Grandma had to lift his face out of her scarf so she could hear him.

"Your mum said that too, and what made me so proud of her was that she turned their laughter into her own laughter. When people laughed at her hair she turned it even brighter or changed the shape of her nose, it became a reason for people to like her, rather than hate her. Do you think you could try to do that for me?"

Teddy shook his head, burying it once more into Grandma's scarf.

"But I don't want them to look at me, because then they talk about Uncle Harry and things that I don't understand because you never talk about the war. You keep saying that I'm too young, but I'm not! I got to school now, and I hate being so stupid about things!"

Grandma gave a shaky sigh and stepped away from Teddy, taking her own seat beside him, leaving a hand on his knee.

"I just love you Ted-ted, I'm trying to make your life easier, not harder."

"Well it is hard! I hate it! You never told me that Uncle Harry killed someone, I don't even want to see him anymore, I hate him."

Teddy shuffled his feet on the rug, his face turned towards the wall.

Grandma pulled her chair closer towards him; he could smell her musky perfume and the talcum powder in her hair.

"Teddy, your Uncle Harry had to kill Voldemort, he did a great, brave and noble thing the day that your parent's died. Voldemort did horrible things to all of us, sometimes it is necessary to kill someone in order to stop deaths of other people, good people like your Granddad and your mum and dad."

Teddy turned towards Grandma, his eyes blinking back tears.

"I'm sorry Grandma."

She nodded briskly, tapping her hand roughly on his knee.

"Come on, let's make those hot chocolates."

-:-:-:-:-

Teddy sat next to James at Christmas dinner, his nose the shape of a reindeer's.

"Do the one like that muggle story, you know Rudolf?" Al pleaded across the table, his face beaming in the light of the Christmas Tree.

Teddy screwed his eyes together before his nose began to flash red, letting out a loud laugh, he looked towards Grandma. Her eyes were shining again, he didn't mean to make her sad.

But then she smiled, and through the candles on the table, Teddy could see her mouth the words _I'm proud of you_.

Uncle Ron passed him the gravy boat, a paper crown on his head.

"So how was school Teddy? I bet you have heaps of new friends?"

Teddy closed his eyes before answering, "I think I'm really going to like it. And I'm friend with this boy, he's Viktor Krum's son!"

Uncle Ron's cheeks turned a nasty shade of red, and Teddy saw him reach for his wine goblet.

"Oh, and he's nice, is he?"

Teddy smiled, "no, not really."

Uncle Ron laughed, spraying the table with red wine. Aunty Hermione let out a shriek.

"Really Ron! _Scourigfy_."

James pulled on his jumper, his eyes wide.

"Do you get lost in the castle?"

"Oh yeah, it's so big, I was late to my first class ever, but the teachers are really nice to me so you don't get into trouble. And there are ghosts that just float around everywhere telling stories and singing, and in the Great Lake there is this massive squid, we saw it one day walking to the greenhouses …"

He missed them most at Christmas Time, but it wasn't so bad anymore.


End file.
